HISTORICAL WEATHER EVENTS - 19 February

FOR YOUR INFORMATION:

FEBRUARY FULL MOON -- The moon will reach the full moon phase this morning (at 10:53 AM EST, 9:53 AM CST, etc. tonight or officially, at 1553 Z on 19 February 2019). The February full moon is traditionally known as the "Wolf", "Snow" or "Hunger Moon."
The Moon will be at perigee on at 0907Z on Tuesday, 19 February (4:07 AM EST), when the Moon is closest to Earth in its elliptical orbit, coming within 221,681 miles of Earth, which is also the closest the Moon approaches Earth during the entire year.

From the files of the Aviation Weather Center, Kansas
City, MO and Intellicast

...1871...Professor Cleveland Abbe of the U.S. Army Signal Service issued the first government weather synopsis and forecasts along with warnings to mariners for the Great Lakes. (National Weather Service files)

...1884...Severe thunderstorms spawned at least 50
tornadoes in the southeastern U.S., including the states of
Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas.
Estimates indicate that 182 people were killed and 1056 were injured.
Thirty-seven tornadoes were rated F2 or greater on the Fujita scale. No
town was directly hit but damage totaled $4 million, a very large sum
for the rural South for this time period. Georgia and the Carolinas
hardest were hit in the torn ado outbreak. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)

...1954...High winds across the southern half of the Great
Plains, gusting to 85 mph, caused the worst dust storm since the 1930s.
Graders were needed in places to clear fence-high dirt drifts. (The
Weather Channel)

...1972...A vicious coastal storm dumped 10 to 20 inches of
snow over interior sections of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states
and caused some of the worst coastal damage this century in New
England. Twenty-three inches of snow fell at McHenry, MD, 23 inches
piled up at Williamsport, PA, and Syracuse, NY recorded 20 inches.
Twenty-foot drifts were reported in northeastern Pennsylvania. Storm
surges up to 4.5 feet and winds gusting to over 80 mph along coastal
Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine resulted in
extensive property damage and tremendous beach erosion. Twenty-seven
houses were destroyed and 3000 damaged in Massachusetts alone.
(Intellicast)

...1979...The "President's Day snowstorm" struck the
Mid-Atlantic States. This storm was grossly under-forecasted by the
computer models and surprised many forecasters as well. Dover, DE
recorded 25 inches of snow and Baltimore, MD was buried under 20
inches. (Intellicast)

...1987...A winter storm over the southern and central
Rockies produced 28 inches of snow at Echo Lake, CO, and two feet of
snow at Gascon, NM and Los Alamos, NM. Mora County, NM was declared a
disaster area following the storm. (The National Weather Summary)
(Storm Data)

...1988...Showers and thunderstorms in the southeastern
U.S. drenched Valdosta, GA with more than five inches of rain, and the
24-hour rainfall total of 7.10 inches at Apalachicola, FL more than
doubled their previous 24-hour record for February. (The National
Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

...1990...A moist Pacific storm worked its way into New
Mexico and southern Colorado. Up to 36 inches of snow blanketed the
Wolf Creek and Red Mountain passes of southwest Colorado, and up to 15
inches of snow was reported around Trinidad. In New Mexico, the eastern
slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains were blanketed with 9 to 28
inches of snow, and 50 to 60 mph wind gusts were reported from Taos to
Albuquerque. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

...2011...The 46-year-old blue spruce that had been used as the National Christmas Tree was blown over by 50-mph wind gusts in Washington, DC. It was the third instance of the National Christmas Tree being blown down since the tradition started in 1923. (National Weather Service files)